THE CHINA MAIL, AUGUST 23, 1938
TO-DAY'S STRANGE STORY OF REAL PEOPLE
THE BOY
WHO
VANISHED
INTO THE SKY
By URSUS MAJOR
ON Christmas Eve, 1889, twenty
guests were assembled at a party given by Thomas Lerch, a farmer of South Bend, Indiana. They were people of standing, including professional men and the local Methodist clergyman, Rev, Samuel Mallelieu. In other words, they were of the class least likely to exaggerate the weird happenings to that eventful night.
The host of that most memorable Christmas celebration ever given in the community had a son, Oliver Lerch, an able and ambitious youth of 20 who had become his father's mainstay in attending to the chores about the farm.
At ten o'clock, while the holiday merriment was at its height, Oliver was asked to take a bucket and fetch water from the well, which was 75 yards back of the house. It was re- called that Oliver obeyed reluctantly, even sulkily, his demeanor suggesting that he was being imposed on.
Five minutes later, the hilarity at the Lerch farm was silenced by pierc- ing screams issuing from the direction of the well.
"Oliver, where are you?" the father shouted, as members of the household lighted lanterns and rushed with them to the well. But to their amazement Oliver's voice answered from some- where in the sky.
"Help! It's got me!"
This alarm he repeated over and over. Each time it was heard it seem- ed to issue from further and further above, as it sounded fainter and fain- ter.
From the time Oliver uttered his Árst alarm the lanterns of the search-
|
His Piercing Screams Issued From The Sky
man would he not have cried out that | "he" rather than "it" had "got" him. The fact that he used the pronoun "it" was accepted as proof, that either a beast or an inanimate thing had car- ried him away. tall trees or buildings from whose tops his voice could have come with its increasingly distant tones, it was supposed by some that he might have been caught up by the grapnel of a ballon; but check-ups failed to show any balloons in the sky on that wintry night; of course, there were no air- planes in 1889.
And as there were no
One theory offered was that Oliver had been seized and carried aloft in the talons of a flock of eagles. The one who offered it insisted, in con- tradiction of the other witnesses, that he had heard the youth finally cry out: "They've got me!" instead of "Its got me!"
But those really acquainted with the habits of eagles ridiculed this theory, knowing as they did that eagles fly neither in flocks nor at night. The ers failed to reveal him. He dissolved eagle is a bird of solitary flight and like breath into the winter wind, leav-it would be impossible for the largest ing terrifled and agape the group that ever known to lift from the ground a few moments before had known only a mature man. hilarity and mirth.
|
a
so far as to suggest that Thomas Lerch had done violence to his son that his pastor and other influential friends present at the fatal Christmas party went before a notary and made depo- sitions corroborating the family's testimony.
As a last resort the father advertised far and wide for evidence as to the whereabout of his son. The result was the usual grist of conflicting and heart-breaking reports.
Oliver was located in nearly every state of the Union, in Canada and Latin-America. He had been seen as a member of the Texas rangers, as a bartender in New York,
as a street-car conductor Charleston, and so on ad infinitum.
in
Page: 21
HONG KONG AND SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION.
Authorised Capital .....$50,000,00 Issued and Fully Paid-up.. 820,000,000 Reserve Funda:--
Sterling
Hong Kong Currency Re-
serve
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.2 6,500,000
.$10,000 (0.
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COARD OF DIRECTORS:
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W
Chairman.
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Hon. Mr. J. K. Bousfeld, . Miskin, Eng. A. H. Compton, Esq. K. S. Morrison, Baq.. Hon. Mr. B... Dodwall. Hons; Mr.. T. E. Paaroo D. F. Landalo, Esq., H. V. Wilkinson, Eaq.
Sir Vandeleur M. Grayburn,
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AMOY
DANGKOK BATAVIA BOMBAY
CALOUTTA CANTON CHEFOO COLOMBO DAIREN FOOCHOW HAIPHONO HAMBURG HANKOW HARBIN CONGREW ILOILO IPOH JOHORE KORE
NOWLOON
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KUALA LUMPUR
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ALSO up to dato SAPE DEPOSIT BOXES
in various sizes TO LET.
Hong Kong, 25th February, 1939,
HONG KONG SAVINGS BANK.
What really become of Oliver Lerch remains one of the riddles of American history. From that night when his pitiful screams were heard descending by the HONG KONG AND SHANGHAI BANE from the black clouds above father's well his whereabout have re- mained a mystery to those who knew and loved him.
The Business of the abors Bank la conducted hisING CORPORATION: · Bulos MAY be obtaine
on application.
KONG AND SHANGHA
V. M. GRAYBURN, Chief Manager.
THE BANK OF EAST ASIA, LTD. Authorised Capital Paid-up Capital Reserve
Profits
.* $10,000,000.3
5,598,600.00
and Undivided
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BOARD OF DIRECTONS:--
The story of Oliver's disappearance as told by his father seemed so fan- tastic to unfriendly neighbours that all sorts of rumours soon flew about, The father was described by some as self-righteous. tyrant of the class who required even their grown childern to Chun. Esq., P.
Hon. Bir Bhou-son Chow, Chairman; Li address them as "Sir" and "Ma'am" Tong. Esq., Chan Ching Bhak, Eng., LI Lai who constantly policed them, cheek-Laq. and Fung Ping Wak, Eng.
Sang, Eng Wong Chu Bon, Esq., Kan Ying P
The crowd immediately scattered to beat every bush, ransack every hole and cranny.in the neighbourhood.
Police and detectives immediately called to the spot combed the country round. And chances of Oliver's or his possible captor's escape were far less possible in those horse and buggy days than in our present era of fast auto-ing the time of their goings out and mobiles able to whisk a runaway or a kidnap victim from across several states in a few hours.
There, at the well, stood the bucket which Oliver had unwillingly set down beside it. It was the only evidence of the tragedy. Had he wished to desert the duty imposed by his parent, would he have screamed his dramatic appeal for delivery from whatever it was that "got" him?
The archives of Fort Wayne con- given. Such depositions were made by tain statements sworn to before a
comings in, the homes and other place they frequented, and the companions with whom they associated.
These rumours reached scandalmon- gers who broadcast the theory that Lerch Sr. was responsible for his son's disappearance and knew evry well where he might be found. when some mischiefmakers even went
It was
LOCAL SHARES
Following is the list of changes and notary bearing out the facts as here enquiries in local share quotations to- Pastor Mallelieu, by one Hirsh, a Chi- | day:- cago attorney, and other guests of equal responsibility.
Had Oliver been carried off by a
How To Keep Children
Well in Summer.
Hot weather often makes young children restless, when they are trou- bled with prickly heat or some de- rangement of stomach or bowels which disturbs their sleep and makes them irritable and cross.
One of the easiest and at the same time most effective ways of keeping your baby well and contented during the hot weather is by administering an occasional dose' of Baby's Own Tablets. The tablets have a gentle laxative action which ̧ cleanses the child's intestines, cools feverishness, checks diarrhoea and colie, corrects biliousness and stomach upsets, dispels constipation, breaks colds and
up croup, expels worms and eases the pains of teething.
:
The tablets are the prescription of a British medical child specialist and are absolutely safe for children of all ages from the cradle onwards. Child- ren like them, too, so they are easy to give. There is no better remedy for childhood ills than Baby's Own Ta- blets, obtainable from all chemists,
DOCKS, WHARVES, GODOWNS, ETC.
H.K. Docks $16 sa.
STORES, &c.
Dairy Farms (Old) $20 sa.
MISCELLANEOUS
H.K. Govt. 31⁄2% Loan 99%1⁄2 b.
MANILA. SHARES Antamoks Ps. 18 sa. Atoks Ps. 171⁄2 80. Baguio Gold Ps. .18 sa. Batong Buhay Ps. .012. sa. Benguet Consol. Ps. 10.10 sa. Big Wedge Ps. 191⁄2, so. Coco Grove Ps. 20 sa. Consol. Mines Ps. .0015 sa. Demonstrations Ps. .08% 92. I.X.L. Ps. .39 sa. Ipo Gold Pa. 15 b Itogons Pa. 191⁄2 sa.. Mambulao Ps. .06 b. Masbates Ps. 094 sa Mind Mother Lode. Ps. 07 Mine Operation Ps. 12 sa.. North Gamarines Pal :18 bà Paracale Gumaus Ps. 15 50. San Mauricio Ps. 79 sd. Surigao Consol. Ps. 20 sa. Suyoc Consol, Ps. 12% sa. Syndicate Inv, 'Ps. 028′ sa. United Paracales Ps. .85 88.
+
Kwok,
FOR THE HONG BANKING CORFORATION.
Hong Kong, les March, 1957,
THE CHARTERED BANK OF INDIA, AUSTRALIA & CHINA Incorporated by Royal Charter, 1889,
Paid-up Capital
Reserve Fund
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WODE Ye-
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